1. NASIM HASAN SHAH, J.-- This order will dispose of Civil Appeals Nos. 12 to 14 of 1984 as they are all directed against one and the same judgment passed -by a Division Bench of the Peshawar High Court.
2. The relevant facts are that land measuring 515 Kanals 5 Marlas situated in village Banda Qazi, some five miles from the city of Abbottabad on Mansehra Road was acquired for the construction of Ayub Medical College on the basis of the Award given by the Land Acquisition Collector, Abbottabad, on 28-2-1980. A notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, had been issued some to years earlier on 21-6-1978 but the award, as stated above, was announced on 28-2-1980.
3. The Land Acquisition Collector, relying on the recommendation of the Tehsildar, Abbottabad, fixed the value of the different types of land on the basis of one year average at the following rates:-
(1) Hotel at Rs.8,388.80 per Kanal.
(2) Bari/Bela Rs.7,164 per Kanal.
(3) Kund Maira Rs.3,424 per Kanal.
(4) Rakkar/Kalsi Rs.1,027.20 per Kanel
(5) Ghair Mazrooa Rs.171.20 per Kanal.
4. Dissatisfied with the award, the land-owners of the village moved a reference under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, contending, inter alia, that the assessment worked out in the Award was completely inadequate and required re-examination. The appellants in Civil Appeal No.13 of 1984 (Haji Ali Asghar etc.) claimed compensation at the rate of Rs.40,000 per Kanal for the land acquired while the appellant .In Civil Appeal No.14 of 1984 (Begum Salam Tasaddaque Hussain) claimed compensation at the rate of Rs.45,000 per Kanal.
5. The learned Senior Civil Judge, Abbottabad, who heard the reference in a well-considered order held that as the land was being acquired for building purposes it should have been treated as a building site. Hence the nature and classifications of the soil of the land which weighed with the Land Acquisition Collector was not relevant. He was also of the opinion that the prospects emerging out of the project for which it was being acquired could not be taken into consideration, though future potentialities could not be ignored. According to him, the sales made in other villages other than Banda Qazi, even though in the neighborhood could not be taken into consideration and only the sales which took place in village Banda Qazi, around the date of the issuance of the notification of acquisition were relevant. On this view of the matter he relied on mutations of sale of land in this village alone, namely, Exh.P.W.10/8 relating to the sale of an area of to Kanals in Banda Qazi for Rs.32,000 in the year 1977; Mutation Exh.P.W.10/9 relating to the sale of an area measuring one Kanal for Rs.16,000 in October, 1978 and Mutation Exh.P.W.10/10 relating to an area measuring 1 Kanal 4 Marlas sold in July, 1978 for Rs.27,000. Taking these transactions into question he arrived at the conclusion that "the sale of land in village Banda Qazi for construction of houses in October, 1977 at the rate of Rs.16,000 per Kanal and in July, 1978 at the rate of approximately Rs.20,000 per Kanal would mean that a willing buyer was prepared to take it and a willing seller was ready to sell it, without ignorning the future potentialities at best at the rate of Rs.20,000 per Kanal." He, accordingly, fixed the compensation at Rs.20,000 per Kanal plus compulsory acquisition charges at the rate of Rs.15$ with compound interest at the rate of 8%.
6. The appellants in Civil Appeal No.13 of 1984 (Haji Ali Asghar etc.), as also the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 14 of 1984 (Begum Salma Tasaddaque Hussain) feeling dissatisfied with the above judgment of the learned Senior Civil Judge, filed regular first appeals in the High Court claiming increase in the value of compensation of their land. So far as the appellants in Civil Appeal No.13 of 1984 are concerned, they claimed compensation at the rate of Rs.40,000 per Kanal, while the appellant in Civil Appeal No.14 of 1984 claimed compensation for her land at the rate of Rs.45,000 per Kanal.
7. The Provincial Government also felt aggrieved and, therefore, the Government and the Land Acquisition Collector also challenged the judgment of the Senior Civil Judge. According to them, the award given by the Land Acquisition Collector was correct and that the learned Senior Civil Judge was not justified in enhancing the compensation to Rs.20,000 per Kanal.
8. All the three Regular First Appeals were heard together by a Division Bench of the Peshawar High Court and disposed of by a single judgment; dated 3-4-1963.
9. The learned Judges of the High Court, after noting that "the learned Senior Civil Judge on the basis of various sale mutations placed on the file concluded that the value of the land in village 'Banda Qazi' for construction purposes in October, 1977, was at Rs.16,000 per Kanal and in July, 1978 the rate was approximately at Rs.20,000 per Kanal and, thus, keeping in view the potential value of the land in dispute, fixed- the compensation at Rs. 20,000 per Kanal which was in his view the approximate value of the land at the the when notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was issued in this case and considering the submissions of the learned counsel for all the parties formed the opinion that the conclusion reached by the learned Senior Civil Judge with regard to the compensation for the land acquired, namely, Rs.20,000 per Kanal, was based on sound reasons. The learned Judge, therefore, thought that the impugned judgment and decree passed by the learned Senior Civil Judge did not call for any interference and, accordingly, dismissed the appeals of the parties, who had filed the appeals before the High Court. The said three parties have, therefore, now appealed to this Court by its leave.
10. We have heard the learned counsel for all the parties at some length and even adjourned the case on one occasion to enable the parties to obtain further instructions in order to ascertain the situation and exact location of the area acquired vis-a-vis the adjoining villages such as Mirpur, Jhangi, Small Industries Estate etc: where sale transactions have also taken place and were being relied upon, before us, by some parties. After considerable discussion before us in connection with the transactions taking place in these villages and the views expressed with regard to their proximity to village Banda Qazi, we discovered that the areas now included in village Banda Nazi and the areas which constitute village Mirpur at present all formerly formed part of a single village viz. Mirpur village and that it was only recently that some of the areas out of the said village were carved out and designated as a new village called Qazi Banda village. In these circumstances, we feel that the sale transactions in Mirpur estate besides, of course, those in village Banda Qazi and not the sale transactions in any other village or estate even though situate in the neighborhood, would be of the relevance in determining the market value of the land acquired in this case.
11. It is an admitted position that the average market value of the sales in village Mirpur, during the relevant period, works out at Rs.23,000 per Kanal. We, therefore, think that even on the criteria laid down by the learned Senior Civil Judge and upheld by the High Court for working out the rate at which compensation should be allowed and also taking into account the fact that the notification of the acquisition was issued in 1978 and the award made some to years later and there was an upward trend in the prices of the land during the period, the value of the land for purposes of payment of compensation should, in our opinion, be fixed at Rs.25,000 per Kanal. We would, therefore, award compensation at the rate of Rs.25,000 per Kanal for the land acquired in this case In this view of the matter, Civil Appeals Nos. 13 and 14 of 1984 must succeed, while Civil Appeal No.12 of 1984 shall fail.
12. The upshot is that Civil Appeals Nos. 1J and 14 of 1984 are allowed to the extent that the judgment and decree of the learned Senior Civil Judge as upheld by the High Court shall stand modified to the extent that the amount of the compensation allowed therein shall be enhanced to Rs.25,000 per Hanal instead of Rs.20,000 per Kanal, but the decree and the judgment of the learned Senior Civil Judge, in other respects, shall remain unaltered.
13. The parties, in the circumstances, however, are left to bear their own costs.